Eric Peterson
Member Of Technical Staff at OpenAI
Oakland, California, United States
Summary
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Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolEric Peterson is a mathematician-turned-programmer with 16 years of experience building software at the intersection of advanced math and systems engineering, currently a Member of Technical Staff at OpenAI. He holds a PhD in Mathematics from UC Berkeley and a BS in Computer Science, and has applied algebraic and topological methods to problems from computer vision to topological data analysis. Eric has contributed to industry-leading quantum software—improving circuit compilation in Qiskit and extending pyQuil for real QPU workflows—while also working on optimizing compilers for low-level quantum programs. His background spans research and production roles at AWS, IBM, Rigetti, and Harvard, blending algorithmic research with backend engineering. A former university instructor of 20+ courses, he excels at communicating complex ideas to diverse audiences and translating theoretical insights into practical tools. Notably, he combines deep category-level mathematical thinking with hands-on compiler and systems work, enabling novel optimizations in both quantum and LLM tooling.
16 years of coding experience
5 years of employment as a software developer
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Mathematics, Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Mathematics at University of California, BerkeleyBachelor of Science (BSc) Computer Science, Bachelor of Science (BSc) Computer Science at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
French, English, Hindi
Stackoverflow
101reputation
0reached
0answers
0questions
Github Skills (16)
algorithm10
circuit10
quantum-computing10
transcode10
qiskit10
quil10
optimisation10
optimizers10
python10
transpiler10
documentation10
optimization10
apidoc9
computer-engineering9
api9
Programming languages (13)
Github contributions (5)
rigetti/pyquil
Dec 2017 - Jan 2020
A Python library for quantum programming using Quil.
Role in this project:
Back-end Developer & Documentation Specialist
Back-end Developer & Documentation SpecialistContributions:4 releases, 41 commits, 52 PRs in 2 years 1 month
Contributions summary:Eric primarily contributed to the documentation and QPU usage guidance of the pyQuil library. Their contributions include adding and updating documentation regarding QPU usage, including connectivity information, compiler error messages, and information about CPHASE gates. They also worked on introducing a CompilerConnection feature for compilation-only jobs, adding a priority argument to job submission routines, and other code modifications, demonstrating their role in extending the library's functionality.
python-librarypythonquantum-computingquantumquantum-programming
Qiskit/qiskit
Jul 2021 - Nov 2021
Qiskit is an open-source SDK for working with quantum computers at the level of extended quantum circuits, operators, and primitives.
Role in this project:Backend Developer
Backend DeveloperContributions:54 reviews, 7 commits, 8 PRs in 3 months
Contributions summary:Eric primarily contributes to the optimization and improvement of quantum circuit compilation and decomposition within the Qiskit framework. They focused on enhancing the `Optimize1qGatesDecomposition` pass, including fixing heuristics and addressing efficiency issues. Additionally, the user implemented and refined a 1Q gate optimization technique involving commutation and resynthesis, and improved the warning messages associated with 1Q gate synthesis.
pythonquantum-circuitsquantum-computingcircuitsquantum-circuit
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